Tonight: City Looks Towards Sales Tax to Fill Flailing Budget

The Sonoma City Council will move forward with plans to take a sales tax to vote at tonight's meeting – a move which administrators say is necessary to maintain municipal services services in the wake of dwindling revenues.

View the full agenda, at right.

Though city staff reported a healthy mid-year budget at their Feb. 22 meeting, with the loss of , the city estimates a minimum shortfall of at least $434,000. If the city chooses to fund projects currently covered with redevelopment funds, including the almost $800,000 spent on city roads maintenance, that shortfall could spiral up to $1.7 million, according to City Manager Linda Kelly.

“The City is in a new era, and must develop a new financial model to continue to serve its community and meet government mandates," said Kelly, in a memo sent to council members.

According to city estimates, a quarter-to-half-cent sales tax would raise an estimated $504,000 - $552,000 per year, eliminating the bulk of the deficit. There's also a chance that the tax might have minimal effect on residents: historically, sales taxes applied to Sonoma's downtown have a "high capture rate of non-city residents," Kelly said.

With the tax, Sonoma would join the bulk of North Bay municipalities: Cotati, Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa have half-cent sales taxes; Sebastopool had a quarter-cent tax. To submit the proposed tax for the June 5 primary election, city officials must file by March 9, according to Kelly. General sales tax measures require a 50 percent vote to pass.

“The city of Sonoma has not overtaxed our residents. The City does not currently have a local sales tax, any parcel taxes, any utility user’s taxes, nor general obligation bonds secured by property taxes," reads the memo. "A minimal local sales tax would not be a burden on the average resident."

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The City Council meets in the Community Meeting room at the in open session at 6 p.m., a closed session starts at 5:30 p.m.